The Speaker, John Bercow, during the state opening of parliament. Thousands were spent on receptions for MPs after the event.
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/PA

John Bercow, the Commons speaker, has spent thousands of pounds of public money on wining and dining fellow MPs, including around £2,000 on a leaving dinner for his former deputy.

Bercow’s entertainment bill was revealed after a freedom of information request by the Press Association, which showed taxpayers bore the cost of a range of dinners, lunches and receptions for parliamentarians.

These included funding for dinners for the panel of chairs, a group of MPs who help with Bercow’s parliamentary duties, £1,700 on a reception for retiring MPs, £3,000 on an event for newly elected MPs, and £2,000 on a “standing down” dinner for Dawn Primarolo, who served as deputy speaker and is now a peer.

Thousands of pounds have also been spent on receptions for MPs after the state opening of parliament.

The FOI request also revealed the public has paid for hundreds of postcard-sized photographs of the Speaker, nearly £2,000 worth of beeswax candles and the tuning of his grand piano.

The photographs were commissioned to capture official images of the Speaker at state openings, which were to be sent out on request as “presentation prints”.

A spokeswoman for the Speaker’s office said overall annual expenditure had fallen 19.4%, from £626,000 to £504,000 since Bercow took on the job in 2009.

“These costs relate to nearly four years of expenditure including, amongst other things, staff pay, office supplies, telephone calls and rental, as well as the official entertainment of foreign dignitaries and parliamentarians traditionally provided by the Speaker’s office,” she said. “The Speaker is committed to cutting costs wherever possible.”

Dia Chakravarty, the political director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told PA: “No one will begrudge footing the bill for the official functions which the Commons Speaker would reasonably be expected to host, but these costs must be kept under constant review and savings found where possible.

“While it is reassuring that the current Speaker has evidently cut expenditure by his office, how he and his staff spend taxpayers’ money should be published as a matter of course so that it can be subject to proper scrutiny.

“The fact that records prior to 2012 have already been destroyed – coupled with the need to use freedom of information laws to get this data in the first place – will not instil confidence in the public that the Speaker’s office is run with a culture of transparency and openness.”